Soliant – My New Starting Mark

So I’ve recently started working here at Soliant, and apparently they think I’m interesting enough to have my own blog. I guess it has something to do with being an Olympic athlete. That’s right. My name is Keith, and when I’m not doing my thing working for Soliant, I’m training for the 2012 London Olympics.

Team Soliant by Day

When I started my job at Soliant, the first person I met was David Alexander, the president of the company. We had a long talk about running and the working environment. David is one of the nicest people you could ever meet, like Mister Rogers. He showed me around the office and introduced me to everyone.

Next, I met with Tim Starling, my supervisor, who’s also a very nice person. I’ve never had my own desk; it was pretty cool. Tim told me that I would work in every department, helping anyone who needs a hand. After another tour of the office, we went to a lot of meetings to see what was going on, and so I could get a feel for the working environment.

Meeting my coworkers was great. Everyone is really nice and universally amazed at how tall I am. I’m sure anyone who talks to me gets a neck injury from looking up so high. My office is in the North Pod, which is great. Everyone loves to sing over here. As I’m writing this, Dwayne and Liz and Sean are singing. Sean knows the words to every song that comes on the radio. I may join the singing one day. Maybe. When I need help with something, no one hesitates to lend me a hand. It’s nice to work in such a supportive environment.

The downside of working full time is the hours. It’s been 7 years since I last worked, so the hours – 8am-5pm – are brutal! I fight sleep every day. I even started drinking coffee…and I never had coffee in my life. Every morning I wake up at 6:15am and leave the house by at 7:10am because morning traffic is crazy. I haven’t missed any days and I haven’t been late. This is what I wanted to do so no excuses. My motivation for everything is London Olympics 2012.

Tim put me in the official training group. Training covers a lot of information such as different types of candidates, terminology, how to market a candidate, how to use the internal database, tips on how to be successful, job postings…EVERYTHING! It was a lot of information in a short period of time.

On Thursday, I signed up to play 9 holes of golf with the company (they have various summer games / outings – golf, kickball, bowling, etc.) We left at 3:00 and went to Stone Mountain. My golf team included Amy, Kelly, and Dawn. I’ve played golf before, but only on a simulator. Golf is really fun. It does not take a lot of energy; you don’t have to warm up for it or stretch. You just go out and play. I wish we had done 18 holes – at the end of 9 holes, I wanted to keep going. It was a really fun experience and I would definitely go again.

Team USA by Night

When I get off work every day, I load up the playlist in my car because I can’t survive without my iPod on my long (45min) drive home. I work out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thursdays and weekends, I’m off. My workout takes about two hours. After that, it’s a rush to shower, eat, and try to be in the bed by 9:30 or 10 at the latest. On the weekends, I try to get as much sleep as I can. I do go out a lot with my friends to dinner, movies, a club, or whatever I’m in the mood for. I take my chocolate lab, Rocko, to the dog park or the Silver Comet/Chattahoochie trail. Sometimes, I go for a light 30min run.

My work hours will be cut in half when I start training because it’s pretty intense. Training will take a lot of energy out of me. During my fall/winter training, I do a lot of running, weights, and plyometrics. I take an ice bath twice a week, and I drink a lot of protein shakes to help build muscle. The intense training routine will prepare me for the Olympic Trials in Oregon in June.

I’ve been talking with my coach about the plan for next year. I wrote down all my weaknesses and strengths in track and field so I could plan my workouts. It is similar to what I’m doing here at Soliant. Focusing in on what I do well, and where I can improve so I can do a “gold medal” job serving Soliant’s candidates and clients.